Contact: Richard Vespucci
For Release: July 5, 2000

State Board of Education Re-Elects Dahme and Butcher as Officers for
2000-01

The New Jersey State Board of Education today re-elected Maud Dahme of
Annandale and Dr. Ronald K. Butcher of Pitman to one-year terms as its
president and vice president. Dahme will serve her third consecutive term
as president, and Dr. Butcher will serve his second term as vice president.

Dahme, first appointed to the State Board in 1983, has distinguished
herself for many years on public school boards at the local, state and
national levels. In 1995-96, she became the first New Jersey resident
to serve as president of the national Association of State Boards of Education
(NASBE). Before that, she served on NASBEs board of directors. NASBE
is a nonprofit association that represents state and territorial boards
of education.

Dahme has served on the New Jersey Commission on Holocaust Education
since 1982. In 1994, she was chosen from a select group of leading American
educators who traveled to Poland to learn firsthand about the Holocaust.

;Born in the Netherlands, Dahme came to the United States in 1950 and
became a naturalized citizen in 1954. Her long record of voluntary service
to education began when she served as a member of the North Hunterdon
Regional Board of Education from 1976-83. She was appointed to the Governors
Task Force on Education in 1981 and was appointed to the State Board in
1983 by Governor Thomas Kean.

Dahme is married and has four children.

Dr. Ronald K. Butcher was first appointed to the State Board in 1990.
He is currently an administrator in the College of Education, Rowan University.

Butcher is a career educator whose past responsibilities include serving
the State Department of Education in the Bureau of Adult and Community
Education, where he helped plan and implement many state initiatives in
the area of community education.

Butcher holds a Ph.D. in educational administration and supervision from
the University of Michigan, a masters degree in education leadership from
Eastern Michigan University, and a bachelors degree in business education
from Western Michigan University.

Butcher is also president and chief executive officer of Ronald K. Butcher
& Associates, Inc., a consulting corporation. He is married and has
three children.

The State Board of Education consists of 13 members appointed by the
Governor with the advice and consent of the State Senate. The board is
responsible for general supervision and control of public education for
the states public school system. Members serve without compensation
for six-year terms.